Nigeria Returns 13 Oil and Gas Blocks to Licensing Pool After Failing to Attract Investors

The Federal Government has announced that 13 oil and gas blocks offered during Nigeria’s 2025 Licensing Round will be returned to the national licensing pool after they failed to attract bids from investors. The disclosure was made by the Chief Executive of the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission (NUPRC), Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan, during the 2025 Commercial Bid Conference held in Abuja.

According to Eyesan, the licensing round initially featured 50 oil and gas blocks, but investor interest was recorded for only 37 blocks, leaving 13 without any bids. She explained that the unclaimed assets would now be returned to the licensing basket for future allocation, while the remaining blocks progressed through the commercial bidding process.

Despite the unsold blocks, Eyesan described the licensing exercise as a major success, revealing that 143 companies participated by submitting approximately 200 bids for the available assets. She noted that investor confidence in Nigeria’s upstream petroleum industry has improved significantly, recalling that nearly 300 companies initially expressed interest when the licensing round was announced.

Following the prequalification process, the number of interested companies was reduced to 196, with 143 firms eventually meeting the requirements to participate in the commercial bidding stage.

The 2025 Licensing Round, launched on November 11, 2025, in line with the Petroleum Industry Act (PIA) 2021, offered exploration opportunities across seven sedimentary basins in Nigeria. The assets include 16 onshore blocks in the Niger Delta, 18 shallow water blocks, one deep offshore block, three blocks in the Benin Basin, four in the Anambra Basin, four in the Chad Basin, and four in the Benue Trough.

The bid portal officially opened on December 1, 2025, while a pre-bid conference was held in Lagos in January 2026 to guide prospective investors through the application process. Registration and prequalification closed in February, with evaluations completed in March.

According to the NUPRC, successful bidders are being selected using a weighted assessment that considers signature bonus commitments, proposed work programmes, technical competence, financial strength, operational capacity, and performance security, rather than relying solely on the highest financial offer.

The commission said the evaluation framework is designed to ensure that Nigeria’s petroleum assets are awarded to capable investors who can accelerate exploration, boost production, and support the long-term growth of the country’s upstream oil and gas sector.